Geoffrey Lean is Britain's longest-serving environmental correspondent, having pioneered reporting on the subject almost 40 years ago.

First ever vote overwhelmingly backs tough action on global warming

The residents of San Francisco, where I’ve spent the past week, have been waiting for years for a really big reason to celebrate – and now two have come along within days.

The first reason to party, as the city duly did, came when the baseball team, the San Francisco Giants, won the World Series for the first time since 1954, beating the Texas Rangers. But the second victory, which attracted little attention even in the United States, was far more important. Given the first chance, anywhere in the world, to vote for or against radical action against climate change, the voters overwhelmingly backed it.